Crime

'RHONJ' 's Melissa Gorga on Teresa Giudice's Prison Sentence: 'We Won't Let It Break Us'

Melissa Gorga reveals how the family is coping and says Joe Giudice's spin-off show is not confirmed by Bravo

Published on July 23, 2015 04:15 PM

As Teresa Giudice serves her sentence in prison for fraud, her sister-in-law and Real Housewives of New Jersey costar Melissa Gorga says their family is doing “really well” given the circumstances.

“I think we’ve bonded a lot,” she told PEOPLE on Wednesday at the Sushi Roxx Grand Opening in New York.

Giudice’s husband Joe is taking care of their daughters Gia, 13, Milania, 9, Gabriella, 8, and Audriana, 3, during her time at at the Connecticut Federal Correctional Institution. When she is freed, Joe will head to prison for his own 41-month sentence.

“I see the girls a lot,” said Gorga, 36. “Joe has seen Teresa, he’s been there to visit her, and I think that we are strong as a family, and I think the kids are doing very well, better than we all thought.”

Rumors of Joe Giudice’s spinoff show about his life without his wife have been building, but Gorga kept mum.

“I know everyone’s talking about the Jersey special that’s coming out,” she said. “It’s not confirmed yet by Bravo, so I am tight-lipped!”

Gorga and fellow Housewife Kathy Wakile also spoke about the challenges of living in the spotlight.

“When you sign up for reality TV, you give it your all, you give yourself to something,” Gorga explained. “You just have to own up to who you are and what you are and how you live.”

“We’re really the same people that we always have been,” said Wakile, 49. “When you tell the truth you can’t get caught. That’s the thing, some people live lies their whole life. We tell the truth.”

Of the Giudices’ legal scandal playing out in the public eye, Gorga added, “There’s no hiding. When you sign on that dotted line you know that’s what you’re doing, and that’s what we’ve done as a family together. We haven’t let it break us and we won’t let it break us.”